I can hardly believe that we are already entering the cozy, cooler, sweater weather season. The fall season is always so much anticipated after those dog days of summer. With each new season comes new beginnings. We all start to slowly get into the groove of seeing the leaves fall, the drop in temperature, our wardrobe changing, the pant belt not closing, the company potlucks, and the strong desire for pumpkin anything. With Fall comes the most iconic holiday: Thanksgiving.
Keeping it real, I never heard of or celebrated Thanksgiving until being older. Being from Mexico, we never celebrated that holiday. I don’t see how we could have missed such a fun one as Thanksgiving. We celebrate absolutely everything else. Like, day of the kid, day of the doctor, day of the engineer, day of the tia (aunt), day of the dead, day of the flag, day of work, day of the saints, day of the Virgin Mary, day of the chancla (sandal). You get the point. When I was younger and first came to this country, my mom would take us back to Mexico for school holidays so it wasn’t until maybe high school that I learned what Thanksgiving was and celebrated it for the first time.
Growing up very humble, our first Thanksgiving celebrations were mainly at centers where they would give turkey plates to all the lower-income families. We would get dressed up and go early to get a table and be one of the first to be served. Let me just say that to this day there is no turkey plate that can compare to the ones we would enjoy from the center. I am not sure if it was the mashed potatoes from the box or the fact that everyone got a turkey leg on their plate. They always had music, face paint, and activities for us. I remember we would be on the city bus back home with our goody bags and our pant belts not closing. Sometimes you don’t appreciate things like that until you are older and reflect back.
Our traditions have definitely changed from then to now. As we get older, family starts growing, and new traditions are built. It’s so fun to reminisce about the good old days, when life was simpler. When your metabolism could handle all that turkey, mashed potatoes, bread, and the desserts. I miss those days. Nowadays, the smell of food causes me weight gain.
A Very Basaldu Thanksgiving: What It’s Like At Our Home
We wake up to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. My favorite. It is always so much fun to see all the balloon floats and the people holding down the strings. This is on my bucket list to do one year. However, it seems like you have to withstand rain, snow, and cold weather. Those are three things that I am not very fond of. Watching from home is starting to sound a whole lot better.
You probably already know that I am going to be looking my best for the day. At minimum, the lashes will be popping, the mani will be fresh, and Chanel #5 will be in the air. I always make sure that everyone is dressed up just in case TMZ catches a picture of us. We will take a family picture to upload to Facebook, because we are the perfect family there but not in real life (be sure to stop by and say hi Thursday!). Plus, you want to get this out of the way early before any stains on your clothes. One thing that we have been doing is wearing the same Thanksgiving theme shirts. That is so fun and looks great in pictures. It takes a little preparation to find the shirts for everyone but so worth it. If that doesn’t work, we just take a picture however we can, like in the photo below!
You might be surprised that our Thanksgiving dinner does not include turkey. My kids don’t like turkey and I don’t know how to cook any meat that is not beef or chicken so we typically have hot wings or my mom will make a pork roast. Plus, I work and really don’t have the time or energy to plan out an entire traditional Thanksgiving meal. My husband, on the other hand, grew up here and will make a turkey just to show off. He likes to smoke a turkey and the first year he did that I almost killed him. I thought that he had burned the entire turkey. I was furious because it was expensive, that butterball took half of my food stamps that month. What I did not know is that the turkey gets all black on the outside and is perfect on the inside.
We typically eat around noon so everyone is free to go out and visit other family or friends afterward. At the table, we will say a prayer and everyone has to say something that they are thankful for. We are truly blessed more than we deserve and we are grateful for everything. I am so blessed to be able to provide a meal for my entire family. I remember when I could not even pay a light bill.
Once at the table, everyone’s true colors come out. We are all fighting for a seat, the salsa, or the salt. My mom will remind me how much my double chin is showing. I will remind my little one to close his mouth while eating. My older son will spill something, he always does. My daughter will be wearing so much makeup that I cannot even recognize her. My brother will already be on his second plate. My husband will make a joke that only he finds funny. Everyone will be passing around the chisme (gossip) more than the pepper. I will be taking it all in and just eating my feelings all day. It is a day to just enjoy the family that we have with all our flaws and no judgement.
The desserts are typically cupcakes made by the kids and store bought pumpkin pie for my husband. I am not much of a baker. I only know how to make cupcakes and pineapple upside-down cake. The kids have a cupcake decorating contest, where they put so much frosting and candy on the cupcakes that they are not edible. Well to me anyway. To them, it is like sugar overload and they love it. After their sugar high, I send them outside to get some sun so that I can clean up.
Which leads me to the only thing that I dislike about Thanksgiving and that is the dishes. I don’t understand where so many dishes come from. We use paper plates and still have a mountain of dishes in the sink. There is not enough Dawn soap for all the washing I have to do. I have a dishwasher but I am old school. I feel that the dishwasher does not take out all the food and it is faster if I just do them.
The day will continue by going to other relatives’ or friends’ Thanksgiving meals. We use the day to catch up with family and friends that we don’t typically get to talk to often because of the busy work week. The kids enjoy seeing cousins and friends. They play outside all day and enjoy a fun day.
I am curious to know what your not so traditional Thanksgiving moments are. All families are not the same. We all come from different cultures, upbringing, and generations. Being perfectly imperfect is the best of all our families. There is so much to be grateful and thankful for. We are truly blessed with everything that we have and don’t have.
I wish you all the pumpkin spice that your heart can take this Thanksgiving. Remember that a grateful heart is a blessed heart.
Happy Thanksgiving beauties.
After dropping your comment about your traditions, grab your FREE COPY of 31 Days of Empowered Affirmations as my gift of gratitude for you stopping by today. We created this to ensure you are living your best life by starting each day off on in a great mindset.
